Soft Robotics - Week 10 (03/04/25)

Final Project Progress - Research & Initial Experiments

My final project is a resource that can aid creators who are experimenting with soft materials, especially those that are conductive. This resource will include a worksheet template that highlights important metrics to consider when testing materials. I also hope to develop a couple a DIY-able tester tools that are not as robust and more portable than a multimeter.

Visual and textual information of related work/state of the art

• The first think I started reading was Kate Hartman's Wearable Electronics - this book already compiles some great resources for beginners to start working with conductive materials. I imagine the textile worksheets can be an unofficial "workbook" extension to Kate's book
• Kay Wasil showed me the site - Kobakant | How to get what you want - This site has great documentation on projects but also tips and tricks
• Peer reviewed research paper - A Review of the Electrical Conductivity Test Methods for Conductive Fabrics
• Instructables: How to work with conductive materials - this has been a great resource for 

"Experts” to consult

• Kate Hartman
• Dave Sheinkopf
• Alanna Okun: Met and spoke to on 4/4
  • What kind of material properties are you often struggling with?
    • brittleness - conductive threads made of steel snapping when too much tension applied
    • over insulation - some yarns are a blend of conductive thread twisted together with wool or other fibers to be more comfortable to the touch, however its often too insulated leading to inconsistent performance.
  • What kind of materials are you frequently working with for your soft creations?
    • fibers such as thread and yarn
  • Not interested in developing own conductive products, just want to use consumer products that can be applied to a project immediately
• Kay Wasil: Met and spoke on 4/10
  • Properties that they think about when sourcing materials:
    • Non conductive materials - It can be helpful to keep a record of insulating materials, or non-conductive versions on hand
    • Stretch & direction of material - stretch sensors?! 
    • Material strength - removing electronics from the garment for cleaning and washing
    • Light diffusion and transmission
  • Common applications of interests (potential user demographics)
    • Embroidery
    • Textile buttons 
    • Niche & challenge: Connecting hard and soft materials
    • Using materials that aren’t conventionally used for garments 

First round experiments
This week, I started with research and understanding what existing DIY resources are out there.
In terms of experiments, I built the tester in Kate Hartman's book, which is also the tester that Lily showed me. My next step is to build some other possible tester circuits on a breadboard